Boris Johnson today claimed he had been proved right to avoid tough restrictions on social and economic activity in England in response to the Omicron wave of Covid-19.
As infection rates soared to record levels of more than 200,000 a day and schools were forced to close by staff absences, the prime minister boasted to MPs that his strategy had enabled England to keep its businesses open and its economy growing.
And he wrongly accused Labour of favouring a return to lockdown – something Keir Starmer’s party was not demanding at the time of the introduction of Plan B measures on 8 December.
Mr Johnson has resisted pressure to follow Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland into tighter restrictions, which have seen nightclubs closed and social distancing rules introduced in the days after Christmas.
And he today told prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons that as a consequence England was outperforming other areas of Europe economically.
“Because of the steps the government has taken, because of the tough decisions we’ve taken, because of the balanced and proportionate approach that we have taken to Covid, we’ve been able to keep this country open, keep our economy moving more than any other comparable economy in Europe,” Mr Johnson told MPs.
“That’s why people are seeing increases in employment and increases in their pay packet as well…
“We not only have the most open society and economy in Europe, but we also have the fastest economic growth in the G7,”
Mr Johnson said that his “balanced and proportionate” approach to the pandemic had resulted in record low youth unemployment and jobs increasing by 400,000 over pre-Covid levels.
And he accused Labour of opposing his light-touch approach “every step of the way”.
“When Omicron presented itself, what did they do?” he asked MPs. “They reached for the lever of more restrictions. They said lockdown, we say boosters. They carp from the sidelines, we get on with the job.”
In an interview last month, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer made clear that the party was not calling for a time-limited “circuit breaker” lockdown of the kind favoured by some scientists to rein in the spread of Omicron.
He told Times Radio on 21 December: “The hospitalisations are different than they were last autumn when we called for the circuit break.
“We act in the public interest and we act to protect public health. Therefore the government needs to get a grip, needs to come up with a plan. We will look at it… If we think it’s the right measures then we will then support it.”
